With Arizona set to carry out its first capital executions in almost eight years, the state’s Catholic bishops fear that once the practice resumes it will be hard to stop.
death penalty
Inmate Chooses Death by Firing Squad, Calls Choices Unconstitutional
Richard Moore, a South Carolina death-row inmate, chose death by firing squad over electrocution but described both methods as unconstitutional.
Catholic Bishops Lament Death Penalty as Executions Resume in 2022
After Alabama carried out the second execution of the year on Thursday, Jan. 27, the archbishop of Mobile vowed that he and the state’s other prelates would continue to speak out against capital punishment.
Supreme Court Likely to Reinstate Death Penalty for Boston Marathon Bomber
Just two days after this year’s Boston Marathon, the Supreme Court revisited the bombing at the 2013 race that killed three people and injured hundreds.
Virginia Becomes the First Southern State to Abolish the Death Penalty
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia signed a bill on Wednesday that officially ended the death penalty in Virginia. Twenty-two states have banned the death penalty before, but Virginia becomes the first one in the South to abolish capital punishment.
Bishops Seek End to Death Penalty — You Can’t Protect Life by Taking It
Drive south about two hours from the Diocese of Lafayette headquarters in Indiana, and you’ll wind up at the Terre Haute federal prison — the site of 10 federal executions since the government resumed the practice in July.
Bishops Call For An End to the Federal Death Penalty
A joint statement from two U.S. bishops who head different committees of the U.S. bishops called for an end to the federal use of the death penalty as “long past time.”
Death Penalty Hits Historic Low in U.S. ‘Despite Federal Execution Spree,’ Says Report
A new report Dec. 16 by the Death Penalty Information Center said the use of capital punishment reached a historic low this year in the United States even with the return of federal executions by the Trump administration.
Texas Archbishop: ‘Conversion of Heart’ Needed on Death Penalty
Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio is the latest bishop calling for the Trump Administration to stop carrying out federal executions before the presidential term ends.
Sister Prejean Decries Federal Execution on Human Rights Day
Calling the Dec. 10 federal execution of Brandon Bernard an injustice carried out by the country’s criminal justice system, Sister Helen Prejean urged Americans to speak up to stop a series of upcoming executions in the final weeks of the Trump administration.